Fortuna
by Cheez3Bree
Summary: Cloud loses to Rufus during their fight on the roof of the ShinRA building and Aeris is kidnapped once again. I don't want to give away too much, but ShinRA will be changing...


I definitely don't own FF7. So don't sue me!  
  
A/N: I'm alive, anyone who still reads my other fic. No, I haven't given up on it; I just need a distraction. I needed something new to experiment with. so this is what's going to come of it. I'd like to know though. who should I pair Aeris and Tifa with? Tifa is completely undecided- Of course there's always Cloud, but all these crazy Tifa/other people fics really make you think. There might be other reasons why Cloud is a problem also. hmmm! So I'm not sure who I want to write her with... Aeris will either end up with Rufus or Reno. (gotta love those ShinRA guys) So let me know what you guys want! Oh- the part at the beginning was something really random that I wrote, and I may take it out later, so it's just kind of there.  
  
I promise I'll get back to my other fic, I'm just suffering from serious writer's block and I need a diversion. I actually wrote out an outline for the entire story, so I should be able to get working on it again SOON!  
  
Thank you all for your support and wonderful reviews (  
  
Assume the events prior to meeting Rufus were the same as in the game, including meeting RedXIII and fighting Hojo's little experiments... I'm sure you all remember.  
  
So now- without further ado-  
  
Fortuna  
  
Chapter 1  
  
Standing on a podium, above the world, it seemed. he stood. The crowd stood entranced as he addressed them. He was fueled by adrenaline, hatred, all the years of torment. how he wished he could speak his mind more often.  
  
"Fate can be the funniest thing in the world. One moment, you're on top of the world, and the next you're knee deep in filth underneath the rotting pizza. Or so I've heard.Who decides this? God perhaps? The Lifestream? The Planet? That's what I'd like to know. That's what we'd all like to know. But that's not going to govern my life or yours- at least it shouldn't.  
  
You know what else is funny? That we even bother with philosophy. Well, some of us have always been the thoughtful ones, the dreamers, the wishers, the hopeful. But we can't live on those wishes and dreams, can we? Today we need money. Money... and power. And we need lots of it. Work be damned, making a name for yourself- well damn that too.  
  
But I've never had to worry. I've always been number one with myself, and that's all that matters. I have the money, the power, the capability. And now the only thing that's been holding me back is dead. As dead as a doornail. He was a rotten old man anyway. All I ever got from him was some pictures for the papers and a lot of crap. The only time he cared was when he needed me for something. And you listened to him. You followed him...Bitter, am I? Maybe just a little. Call me selfish, fine. Say I'm a rotten brat; that's fine too. But call me old man ShinRA's son and I'll gut you. What you should be calling me is your highness..."  
  
"Mr. ShinRA?" The voice addressed him. With a start Rufus ShinRA sat up, running a hand through his strawberry blonde hair.  
  
"What is it?" a groaned response. Those dreams were always so perfect... the one place he could speak his mind and not fear the consequences. He'd been without tangible, real friends all his life, and had decided he didn't need them.  
  
"We've gotten news from the ShinRA building..." It was the copilot of his helicopter, hurried, frantic, and nervous? Rufus thought so.  
  
"And you've woken me because?" Rufus looked impatient.  
  
"AVALANCHE, they're trying to escape with the ancient..."  
  
"Well get us the hell there- stop wasting time talking to me!" Rufus immediately narrowed his eyes, and the copilot scrambled to the front of the craft. Lose the ancient? He didn't think so. She was an essential part of the plan.  
  
Dark Nation growled hungrily, sensing conflict.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~  
  
From the moment they had woken up things had gotten stranger and stranger. AVALANCHE had found the doors to their cells unlocked. Wandering around, the trails of blood all over the building were certainly eerie. Discovering the strange JENOVA specimen missing, and finding president ShinRA's body had been just as much of a shock. Sephiroth... still alive, some way, somehow. But they didn't let their guard down just yet.  
  
Cloud sighed, "Where do we go from here?"  
  
A helicopter hovered outside of the large bay windows. The ShinRA logo was plastered across the side.  
  
"@&*(#&*! Rufus, I forgot about him!" Barret cursed.  
  
"Rufus? Who's that?" Tifa questioned.  
  
"Rufus ShinRA... vice president of ShinRA inc, the president's son." Barret responded, noting the Turks who had captured them the night prior around the helicopter.  
  
"I heard no one's ever seen him bleed or cry." Red noted.  
  
Aeris simply looked curious.  
  
Cloud watched, then headed outside on the balcony, the others followed.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Rufus climbed out of the helicopter nimbly, dark nation at his heels.  
  
"Mr. President!" Reno of the turks acknowledged him. Rude and Tseng stood at his side, watching carefully, regarding Rufus with a nod.  
  
"Ahh, excellent- Turks." He began smoothly. "Well- we need to recapture the Cetra. I may need your assistance."  
  
They looked to one another and nodded.  
  
At that moment AVALANCHE found its way outside, Cloud leading and Red last. Rufus couldn't have asked for anything more perfect. It was like a hand delivered package.  
  
"You must be AVALANCE." He began, pasting on the trademark cold, emotionless face that he was known the world over for. So what if he had feelings? When he ruled he could push them aside, let the world think what they wanted to.  
  
"Dat's right!" Barret began.  
  
"Charming." Rufus added, looking each of them over in turn. His eyes set lastly on Aeris. He recognized her immediately as the ancient. The only pictured he had ever seen of her was from when she was a small child, and Rufus had to admit she'd grown into a beautiful young woman. She looked to innocent, too fragile to be one of the fabled Cetra- but his eyes couldn't be deceiving him. When he realized he had stared a moment too long, he snapped his fingers.  
  
Tseng immediately stalked behind Aeris and held her arms behind her back. She was too surprised to react. Reno stood beside the two of them, night stick brandished.  
  
"We'll be borrowing the girl for awhile." Rufus remarked dryly. A moment later, Aeris and the turks disappeared into his helicopter and were gone. AVALANCHE could only watch in horror as their friend was kidnapped once again.  
  
Cloud unsheathed his sword in protest. "You guys go find a way out. I'll take care of Rufus."  
  
Tifa looked as if she might argue, but a look from Cloud silenced her. She nodded, and AVALANCHE raced back into the ShinRA building.  
  
Rufus stood alongside Dark Nation, prepared to fight.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 


End file.
